Second Best
by LifelongObsessor
Summary: Set during "Journey's End". While everyone else is celebrating the day's victory, Martha is in a state of internal conflict over having finally met Rose Tyler, the woman who was always more important than herself. Could Rose possibly relate?


The air was calm. The atmosphere inside the TARDIS was finally beginning to shift from one of excitement, adrenaline and sweat to one of relief, friendship and peace. They had done it – stopped the Daleks, saved the Earth and even brought it home. The time for flying the ship together had passed; the TARDIS now was perched in a grassy patch back on the passengers' home planet of Earth. Everyone was bustling around, eagerly sharing stories and promises to write, knowing they would soon be exiting the TARDIS and returning to real life.

Martha Jones was not participating in these carefree activities. While everyone else happily chattered away, she just leaned against a wall and took everything in; the beaming smile on Sarah Jane's face, the sets of nearly identical hand gestures taking place between the two Doctors as they talked, the look of veiled terror on Captain Jack's face as he tried to untangle himself from the forceful hug Donna has just trapped him in.

It was moments like this Martha wondered if she'd made the right decision in leaving the Doctor nearly a year ago, moments when she could see how many people the Doctor had touched, how many lives he had changed, how many people he cared about. Of course, that was her main problem, wasn't it? The very reason she had left at all? She'd left because she had known she could never compete with the Doctor's other loves.

No, that was a lie; she knew she couldn't compete with _one_ love specifically. That very love was now sharing the same room as her; Rose Tyler. Martha was conflicted. During all her time with the Doctor, Martha had always felt second best. She had quickly grown tired of the Doctor's comments of "Oh, Rose did this," and "Rose did that." She hated the feeling that someone out there was more important than her, a better companion, better at saving the world.

Over time, Martha's anger had just turned to hatred, ridiculous hatred for a woman she had never met. She hated Rose for constantly being on the Doctor's mind, pulling his thoughts away from Martha. She hated her for leaving and causing the Doctor so much pain, even though she knew it was hardly Rose's fault. She even hated her for being blonde, a fact she now was rather sheepish about when she noted that Rose was in fact a bottle-blonde, not a natural.

Then came this day, the day everything had to change. Today she had met Rose Tyler, the woman the Doctor dreamt of, even back when he had become human. The most infuriating part about meeting her was that Martha actually _liked_ her. Rose Tyler turned out to be a good person; she was brave, kind and intelligent. How could Martha continue to hate her _now_? What was she supposed to feel? How was she to make nearly two years worth of hate just vanish? For God's sake, Martha was getting _married_. She shouldn't care how the Doctor felt about anyone now. Was she _still_ pining over the him after all this time?

These were the thoughts running through Martha's head when Rose Tyler waltzed over to her space on the wall.

"You mind if I join you?" Rose asked, nodding her head toward the empty patch of wall to Martha's right.

"Sure," she said, flashing a weak smile. Rose leaned against the wall and Martha found her eyes drawn back to the Doctors. The original Doctor, the one in the brown suit, turned around and flashed a huge smile in Rose's direction. He seemed somewhat conflicted, but his was still the happiest she had ever seen him, Martha realized. She felt feelings of hate stirring in her stomach again; did she really hate someone for making a hero _smile_?

"You look kind of perplexed," Rose's voice interrupted.

Martha shook all these ugly thoughts from her head. "No," she said in reply. "I'm just tired, you know? Rough day."

Rose nodded slowly, and Martha could tell Rose had in no way believed her lie. They both fell silent again and were watching the newer Doctor swing Jackie off the ground in a ridiculous bear hug when Rose said, "You don't like me much, do you?"

Martha frowned and considered how to reply. Should she lie again to protect Rose's feelings? Rose had seen through her last lie in a second. Finally she answered truthfully: "I do like you, Rose. It's just … I'm so blinkin' jealous of you!"

Rose stared. "You? Jealous of me?"

Martha hung her head, rather ashamed of herself. "Yeah."

Rose blinked a few time and then, without warning, burst out into uncontrollable laughter. Martha stared at her, confused. When Rose got a hold of herself again, she said, "No, Martha Jones, _I'm_ the one who's jealous of _you_!"

Now it was Martha's turn to laugh. "I'm sorry?"

"You get to be here!" Rose gestured around the room. "Not just here in the TARDIS, but here in this _universe_!" Her expression became very serious. "You had a life before this, Martha. You had a promising medical career ahead of you, a future. I was a shop girl. I had nothing. Traveling with the Doctor was my life … and he got ripped away from me. I got sent to a world where the one thing I loved didn't exist anymore. Even if you weren't traveling with the Doctor, you were at least in a place where you knew he was out there somewhere, looking out for you. I lost even that." She laughed again suddenly. "And as if I didn't hate you enough for that, then _you_ got contacted through the Subwave Network and _I didn't_? I was so angry at you! All I could think was '_I was here first! I should be on here, not her_!' which was ridiculous because no one even knew I was back, not to mention the fact you were much more useful than I would have been! Seeing you picked over me just made me feel like I was so – so -"

"Second best?" said Martha.

Rose nodded in agreement. "Exactly."

Martha smiled sadly at Rose. "I never thought of my situation in the way you explained it until now."

Rose nodded and put her hand over Martha's. "You see? You're a lucky girl, Martha Jones."

Martha shook her head, though. "You're forgetting one thing, Rose; when you left, you took something with you, something I could never have." Rose just looked at her, in the dark as to what this object might be. "His heart," finished Martha.

Rose stared into Martha's face. Her eyes began to blink rapidly and Martha watched as they filled with tears. "Really?"

Martha smiled encouragingly, trying to ease the tension. "Well, not just _one, _I suppose. _Both_ of them, really." This coaxed a short laugh out of Rose. "In fact, it may even be _three _hearts you have now," continued Martha, gesturing to the blue-suited Doctor. "Human boy over there seems to have the hots for you as well."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me Donna doesn't feel that way about me now, too."

Martha craned her neck and peered across the TARDIS control panel. "Um. Actually, she seems to be a little preoccupied with Jack at the moment."

There was a moment of awkward silence as both women considered this, then they burst out laughing.

"Hey Martha," gasped Rose as she regained her breath, "is it true you got to meet Shakespeare?"

"Oh my god," smiled Martha. "You don't know the _half_ of it! He was _hitting on me_!"

"No!" gasped Rose, collapsing into giggles again.

"And you – did you really stare into the heart of the TARDIS?" asked Martha.

"Yeah," replied Rose, smiling sheepishly. "Probably NOT the smartest thing I ever did. Caused the poor Doctor to regenerate. I don't think he'll ever forgive me for the pain I caused his feet." Martha cocked her head, confused. "He regenerated into shoes that were three sizes too small for his new body," she explained, smiling deceitfully.

Martha shook her head, grinning from ear to ear. "No way! And is it true that you –"

The women were suddenly interrupted. "Hey, you two," Mickey's voice chimed as he crossed over to where they stood. "The Doctor, well, I mean, THAT one," he said, pointing to the Time Lord in the brown suit, "says Sarah Jane is taking off now. He thought you may wanna get off here too, Martha."

"Oh," said Martha. "Sure. Right. Thank you, Mickey." She smiled warmly at him. "I'm going to miss you, you know. It was great meeting you."

Mickey's face slowly broke into a grin. "Yeah," he said slowly. "You too." He stared into her face a moment. Suddenly his eyes flashed as though he had made a decision of some kind; he spun of his heal and rushed over to Jackie. The two started talking intently.

Martha watched this unfold with confusion. What just happened?

"I think he likes you," Rose leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

Martha spun around. "What? No! I – " Was she blushing? Her face felt like it was blushing. "No. He can't! I'm – I'm engaged, see?" She held her hand up to Rose's face, displaying her ring.

Rose smiled knowingly. "We'll see about that, Martha Jones."

Martha and Rose started toward the door. When they reached it, Martha turned to her and said, "So, you'll be staying with the Doctors and Donna now, then? Pick up where you left off before?"

"That's the plan," agreed Rose. "But I'll be sure to keep in touch. Maybe I'll come visit you if we get the chance. You know, just so we can be reminded about how much we hate one another," she teased.

"I'd love that," grinned Martha, realizing all her hostile feelings toward Rose had vanished. "See you later, Rose Tyler." And with that, Martha Jones left the TARDIS for the last time.

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><p>Martha never did hear from Rose Tyler again. It didn't bother her too much at first; after all, friends promise to stay in touch all the time and just fall apart. It had happened to her many times before. It bothered her, though, that she couldn't reach her about the important things. She couldn't call Rose up when she and Mickey started dating to ensure she had her blessing or to ask for advice. She couldn't get a hold of her to invite her to their wedding a few months later. Rose's absence from these monumental moments saddened Martha, but her feelings of resentment never returned; they were alike, she and Rose Tyler. If there was any way Rose could have been there, Martha knew she would have been.<p>

Over the years she heard rumors as to where Rose had gone. One of her friends at UNIT heard the Doctor had sent her back to her parallel world and she was trapped again. Someone else said that she and the Doctor were now happily married and living together in a London with Rose's parents. What rumors were true, Martha wasn't sure, but years later when she stumbled across a photo of the Doctor's friends, his "Children of Time", taken that momentous day in the TARDIS, she looked at Rose's smiling face and said, "Hello, old friend," before returning the photo to its rightful place. And for some reason, Martha Jones had a feeling that wherever she was, Rose Tyler was doing the same.

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><p><strong>This is just a quick little scene that popped into my head. One thing that always bugged me during season three was Martha's reaction everytime Rose was mentioned. I was a hardcore Rose fan, so someone not jumping up and down every time the Doctor said her name frustrated me. <strong>**Then, of course, I tried to see everything from Martha's point of view and totally understood. I wanted Rose to have a chance to clear her reputation, though, since being hated on for no reason is never fun, believe me.**

**I apologize for any typos or grammar mistakes in this story - I wrote it pretty late at night.**

**Thank you for reading! I would love some reviews if it isn't too much to ask!**


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